But the hopelessly romantic notion that the Seawall could stand tall forever, holding back storm surges while preserving Galveston as a place apart, disappeared with Hurricane Ike.

The September storm threatened the wall by exposing the wooden pilings that support its older sections, state and local officials said.

Ike left so little sand to shield the Seawall’s base that the underpinnings could corrode or wash away, causing the 17-foot-high concrete structure to collapse.

The danger has prompted a multimillion-dollar effort to replenish the beach in front of the Seawall before the next hurricane season.

“We wouldn’t be spending millions of dollars if we weren’t really concerned about the wall,” said Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who is responsible for the state’s coastline. “We want it to be there another 100 years.”

The effort requires more than 400,000 cubic yards of sand from nearby land to be dumped along the Seawall to create a 70-foot beach from 10th Street to 61st — a strip that fronts several hotels and restaurants.

Pounded for 12 hours

In 1995, Galveston rebuilt the sandy shore along a 3.6-mile stretch of Seawall Boulevard, banking that the beach would stir the island’s sometimes sluggish tourism trade.

This time, the Seawall also needs help.

Ike pounded the seawall with waves and debris for at least 12 hours, damaging pavement, causing sinkholes along the sidewalk on top of the wall and swallowing up the protective beach.

Sutcliffe said the repairs will cost at least $10 million. The Texas General Land Office’s beach restoration project will cost an additional $10 million.

“If left unrepaired … the next storm could jeopardize the wall,” Sutcliffe said.

Galveston built the Seawall and raised the city behind it after the Great Storm of 1900, a catastrophic hurricane that left in ruins what was then the most important city in America between New Orleans and San Francisco.

As designed, the concrete wall sits atop pine pilings driven 40 to 50 feet into the sand. Blocks of granite, known as “riprap,” protect it from being undermined.

Since then, the massive Seawall has protected homes and businesses from the full force of a dozen hurricanes.

“It has been remarkably effective,” said Michael Forlenza, a geologist and editor of the Houston Geological Society’s monthly journal. “As long as the pilings stay underground, they will be pretty well preserved.”

Still, the latest beach restoration project is a temporary fix. The new beach is expected to erode in 10 to 15 years, barring another major storm.

Hurricanes can take years of toll on a beach in minutes. Hurricane Carla, in 1961, washed away large chunks of beachfront along the Seawall.

Hurricane Alicia, in 1983, gobbled up 150 feet of beach near the island’s West End.

And Ike all but erased the beach and tossed some of the riprap over the Seawall.

Even in the absence of hurricanes, erosion is a constant concern for the island, because jetties and dammed rivers have starved the beach of any new sand supplies.

What’s more, as the island subsides and sea levels rise, beach restoration will become a more expensive, ever shorter-term solution.

$20 million a mile?

Orrin Pilkey, a nationally known coastal geologist at Duke University, said it could take as much as $20 million a mile to create a lasting beach.

“The fundamental problem with a seawall is that it encourages shorelines to retreat,” Pilkey said. “With each storm, it becomes harder and harder to put in a beach that will stay there.”

Patterson, the state’s land commissioner, said the latest beach-rebuilding project is large enough to protect the Seawall for at least a decade.